RISHIKESH, TO BABA LAND

January the 6^th

Rishikesh is the city where the Gange is born. It is surprisingly also the spiritual capital of babas and hippies in India. John Lennon came in the 60’s to experience transcendental meditation. Since fake ashrams, maditation and yoga centers flourished, driving thousand of tourists in search of spiritual crash courses. In contrast with Haridwar, a large part of Rishikesh (the tourist part) feels fake. It is not Indians that we see, but the image that westerners project over Indians. It looks like a living stereotype. The nature is stunningly beautiful, the Gange flows quickly down from the first mountains of the Himalaya.

Rishikesh the Ganga

The vegetation is luxuriant and green. The paths are soft and meant for calm walks. How wonderful if it was not so used in this superficial spiritual quest. Photos of gurus, posters of yoga courses are spread everywhere, only in English (which is a very bad sign in India, if one looks for authenticity).  

An original monk in Baba Land, look, he is holding a mobile phone

Rishikesh, capital of yoga

We go down towards the ghâts (stairs that lead to the Gange where people go to bath or pray) to watch the candle ceremony at the sunset. It is a ceremony to thank to holy Gange, where Hindus light a candle in a small clay cup filled with flowers and let it go on the river. We don’t see most of it as it is already ended when we get down. But the atmosphere takes us deeply immediately. It is intimate and silent. The stillness of the movements was an invitation to simply be. 

Candle ceremony

We get back to Haridwar to catch a night train to Varanasi. A trip that leads us from the city of the living to the city of ended lives.